Of Guns and Mages
by wyvern1220
Summary: He was feared by many. Called The Gunslinger by his foes, he dedicated his life to the thrill of adventures. The story begins just before the adventure of his life, when he was summoned to another world by a pink haired loli. Will he find a way back or stay? After all, theres a whole new world to explore. But there is one thing for sure, our heroes are in for an hell of a ride.


_To whoever is reading this, thank you!_

_This is just an idea I had, and I found some time to actually write it._

_I don't own Zero no Tsukaima, a.k.a The Familiar Of Zero, created by Noboru Yamaguchi._

_Also, english is not my mother language, so you should find some mistakes here and there. So please, review the story. Your feedback is very important._

_Thanks, peace out._

* * *

Chapter 1 - The Calm Before The Storm

The streets were crowded, which was something unusual considering the rough climate in this particular town. A scalding heat that was predominant in the desert this small town was located in, which also had a good frequency of sandstorms. It was an late afternoon like any other, with your everyday people minding their own businesses.

Still, it was already coming the hour where people call it a day and go back to their homes. The rising level of sand in the air was also contributing to it, as it was just another signal of an incoming sandstorm.

But in the middle of the streets, we could see three particular figures. They were slowly riding their horses, as if they were tourists who were visiting an remote location.

Each one of them was wearing particular types of clothing, but they all had cloth masks covering their faces against the sand.

"Huh… this is definitively surprising." said a female figure, she was riding the horse in the middle. She was wearing a hooded dark blue robe with intricate ornaments, a golden belt with a pouch on her side, dark blue pants and furry high boots. She had blonde hair, shining blue eyes and a juvenile expression. On a closer look, she also had a wooden staff on her back. "I didn't expect a place so isolated, in the middle of a desert, to have this amount of people."

"We're two." said another figure on her right, this however, was a guy, who looked like he was in his middle 20s. He was wearing a quite armored outfit, it was composed by a grey pointy helmet with horns, a grey light armor, with paddings on the shoulder and a black shirt underneath, grey armored pants with chains around it and high steel boots. He had messy black hair and dark brown eyes. He was carrying a lot of bags, and on his back we could see an intricate greatsword, with exotic markings on the hilt and the blade. The blade had a faint red glow to it. "I've seen people live in all kinds of places, but sometimes I get impressed like this. I wonder how this city was founded, the weather and the location makes this one of the worst spots possible, but that didn't stop them apparently..."

"Yes", said the female figure again. "And Timestone is apparently a pretty old town… We still have some time left by the way, Markus. Tomorrow by early morning we could visit some points of interest here, and learn more about this town. Find some monuments, old buildings, maybe there's also a library around here…"

"I'm fine with that." replied Markus, with a hearthly laugh. "I would also like to know more about this place, given that there were so few records about it back home. To be honest most people didn't even know it existed, the crown must've forgotten about it, along with all the mysteries that float around this desert."

The female figured beamed. "Then, it's decided! Tomorrow by morning we'll explore this town and learn about it as much as possible! Who knows what kind of untold tales were passed here, generation by generation. All the things we could discover here… it's all so exciting!" she said, clearly looking forward to the next day. "Don't you agree?" she asked the figure in her left. "This is gonna be awesome!"

However, he didn't answer.

"...Hey, did you listened to what we said? This is clearly a great opportunity to…" she stopped, noticing that he clearly wasn't paying attention to anything they were saying.

…

"Oi."

…

"Hey."

...

"Oi, wake up." She said while grabbing his arm and shaking him a little bit. "It's not the time sleepyhead, we need to find an Inn first."

"...Huh?" said the figure in the left, apparently awakened from his stupor. "...Oh, sorry about that. I was just lost in thought…" he said. He was wearing a light black hat with a red feather, a light black coat with a grey suit vest underneath, a red cape which also acted as a long scarf, light black pants with some stashes by its sides and high steel boots with spurs. There was also a white skull on his belt, and two gun holsters by his sides, each one of the holsting a revolver. The revolvers were fairly big if compared to your usual types, each one of them with a total lenght of almost 15 inches, indicating they were high caliber handguns. They had dark grey grips and silver bodies. The gunslinger had dark blue eyes and long blonde hair, and he looked quite young.

"Oh? Right." she said. "You were quite far away there. What's in your mind?".

"Nothing that important. Just admiring the scenario… and thinking if we will really find it."

"Well, there's only one way to find out right?" said the female figure. "It was quite an adventure to even get here, if we don't find the Dark Abyss, at least there's a whole place we can explore and learn about."

He chuckled. "You're always over optimistic, Lea." he said. "To be honest if the legends aren't true I would be pretty disappointed. We traveled for months, and the journey wasn't exactly calm."

"Hey, but we did it, right Wolf?" said Lea, giving him a wry smile. "We didn't even face that many problems, it was a walk in park."

"Nothing to worry about, Wolf." said Markus. "We faced so many challenges together, I'm pretty sure we can tank whatever is waiting for us, we're the best after all, hahaha!"

"Heh, you're right Markus. Still, I just want to make sure that we're prepared to face whatever situation we might encounter ourselves into. We're all more than capable of handling anything we've fought and faced so far, but there's always the possibility that we find something greater than anything we've seen."

"Wolf is right, who knows what kind of obstacles and creatures we might encounter...hehehe." Lea chuckled.

"What? What's so funny"? Asked Markus.

"It's just the thought of Wolf being so worried and cautious, when he's the least cautious and most eccentric of us", she said while chuckling.

"What?! Now you're joking with me, Lea. I'm pretty fucking cautious. I always plan my next moves before executing them, I'm the best after all." said Wolf, giving her a triumphant expression.

"You? Cautious? ...hahahahaha!" she laughed. "Sure, just like that time when we've run into an bandit fortress. We were planning the best approach to enter and clear the place when… Well, actually just me and Markus were planning. Because by the time we realised, you've already invaded it and slaughtered everyone."

"...Meh, that was just one time." He shrugged "At least I've been discreet with it".

"Discreet?" said Markus "So, apparently blowing up their front gate, stabbing the sentinels and shooting everyone is being discreet. I wonder what you would do if you actually wanted to make some noise, hahahahahaha!"

"Alright guys, you got me. I'll admit, sometimes I can go over the board".

"Really?" Asked Markus. "What about that time we fought some Trolls in Anu's Forest, and you ended setting fire in a good portion of the forest itself?"

"Well… true, that was unnecessary but we wer-"

"Also, what about that time we were hired to rescue that Landlord's daughter from some crazy Vampire cult?" remembered Markus. "You just stormed their hideout annihilating everyone in your path, and you almost killed one of the prisoners the vampires were keeping".

"...Well, that was imprudent but the tim-"

"Also," interjected Markus. "what about the time when we raid-"

"Alright, alright, I get it." said Wolf with his hands in the air, in a 'I surround position' "Sometimes, I do some crazy shit."

"Sometimes? More like all the time" said Markus.

"Alright boys, let's drop this conversation and focus in our objective" said Lea. "It's almost night time and I really don't want to spent the rest of the day cleaning our gear of this sand. We need some place to stay."

"I second that." Wolf said.

"Then, let's search. Surely there must be an Inn around here." added Markus.

* * *

**Scene Change: Timestone Town - Golden Dawn's Inn**

It was almost night. The sun was settling, people were closing their businesses, and going back to their homes spend the rest of the day with their beloved ones. The level of the sand was much higher than previously, giving little visibility for those who were still roaming the streets.

They had just finished setting their horses in a local stable, and they were heading to a local Inn at the end of the street.

"Welp, here it his, Golden Dawn's Inn" said Lea, looking at the big sign in the front.

"Took long enough." replied Markus. "Seriously, is this the only establishment in this town? We spent almost half an hour looking for it."

"Let's go already, this sand is getting on my nerves." Wolf said with a clearly annoyed tone.

And so they entered the Inn. The Inn itself was pretty decorated, with a western feel to it. It was composed by a saloon with a bar, various rounded tables around the entrance, a area in the back with billiard and card games and some stairs leading to the second floor, where all of the rooms where located in. The Inn was crowded, many people were enjoying themselves, chatting, getting drunk and gambling. But suddenly all of the eyes were fixed on the three figures that had just joined the ambient.

…

"The fuck you're looking at?" said Wolf. "Mind your businesses fools."

And so, everyone stopped staring, and resumed whatever they were doing.

After that, our dynamic trio headed towards the bar and they took a seat.

"You know…" said Lea, giving Wolf a side glance. "I know it's just the way you are, but it's was kinda rude talking to them like that."

"Meh, they started." he shrugged. "And besides, staring is rude."

"Seriously… why do I even try?" she said, rolling her eyes.

And so they kept chatting, until a man appeared from the back of the bar. He was wearing a vest with the Inn's name stamped in.

"Good afternoon." he said. "My name is Johan, I'm this Inn's owner and barkeeper. Sorry to keep you waiting, my assistant broke some wine bottles back there and I was helping him clean the mess… Damn rookies."

"Good afternoon." said Lea with a nod.

"How you're doing?" asked Markus.

"Sup." said Wolf.

"I'm fine, thank you very much. Still, this is unusual. We definitely don't see many travelers around these parts." said Johan.

"Oh? How do you know we're travelers?" asked Lea, with a bit of curiosity.

"Simple, because I know almost everyone on this Town, with an isolated community like this people tend to start more relationships. Also, your loot and gear kinda give it away. There's not many people around here wearing these kind of clothes." he answered with a smile.

"Right, that makes sense." agreed Lea.

"Anyway, back to the topic. What can I do for you?"

"As you pointed out, we're travelers." said Markus. "And we just arrived on Timestone, so we don't know how things work around here, and most importantly, we don't have a place to stay for the time being."

"I see…" the barkeeper nooded.

"So, is there and rooms available here for us to rent?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid there's only one still unoccupied room. Although we have only two beds there…"

"Hmmm, this is a problem." noted Markus. "What do you guys think?" he asked, looking over his companions.

"This is fine, I'll sleep on the floor. Just give me a blanket and I'll be fine." Wolf said.

"Are you sure Wolf?" asked Lea. "We've been traveling for quite a while without a good opportunity to rest."

"I'm cool with it. I've slept in worse places…"

"Alright." she said, turning to the barkeeper. "Then, we would like to rent this room."

"Got it. Normally we charge 20 PLs per person, but I'll make a discount, due to the lack of proper furniture. 40 PLs per night is the price".

"Deal." said Lea, handing over the banknotes.

The barkeeper then reached for a key, that was in a hanger by the side of the bar.

"Here it is, this is the key to your room. It's on the second floor, last door to the right by the end of the corridor. Please, enjoy your stay." said the barkeeper, before resuming his activities.

"Alright, I think I'll go and check our room." said Markus.

"Suit yourselves." answered Wolf "I'm going to stay here for a while, and maybe go for a walk. It seems that the sandstorm is ceasing..."

"Oh, so you're not coming?" asked Lea.

"Nope but don't worry, I'll catch up later."

"Alright then." said Lea. "Lets go Markus, we have to drop this loot."

And so they headed upstairs, leaving the Gunslinger behind. He stayed on the same spot for some time, watching his surroundings, as people passed by. Eventually he grew bored.

"Oi, Johan" he called.

The barkeeper, who was at the other side of the bar came to him.

"Hello, Wolf was it? What can I do for you?"

"Name's Wolfram, but you can call me Wolf. I would like a bottle of beer, please."

"Alright, I'll fetch it for you. Any specific brand you like?"

"No, I'll let you choose for now".

"Sure thing." he replied with a smile, before going to the corner and eyeing numerous bottles of alcoholic beverages. He then grabbed a bottle with some complex geometric designs in the label.

"There you go. This is the Inn's speciality, Golden Dawn Beer. The recipe of this beer is almost a family heirdom, passed from generation to generation. We got many people that come here regularly, just to drink it."

Wolf had his eyes glued on the bootle. Just from looking, he could tell that it was high quality stuff.

"I'll take it." he said, handing over a banknote. "You can keep the change".

"Thank you." the barkeeper replied with a nod.

Wolf then stood up from his seat and looked around. He grabbed a cup and headed to a isolated table in the corner of the Inn, which had an window right next to it. He reached it, sitting, opening the bottle and pouring a cup of beer for himself.

He looked outside of the window. The sandstorm had pretty much ceased, and he could clearly see the streets outside. Lights were flickering, with almost no one roaming the streets, apart from a few people who passed by from time to time.

He then reached for his stash and pulled a book. He wanted to isolate himself from the outside world, and reading was one of his favorites hobbies. He was enjoying his book and beer.

_'Hmmm, this is actually pretty good.'_ he thought.

And so he continued reading for a while. The bottle was already halfway through, and the Inn seemed more crowded and noisy than it was before. But none of that mattered, since the only thing Wolf was caring about was his book. In fact, he was so immersed on his reading that he failed to notice six people approaching his table.

"Hey." someone called him.

Breaking up from his piece of literature, Wolf looked up only to see six guys standing in front of his table. They were all wearing armored outfits, with what was apparently their leader standing in front of them.

"What is it, punk?" Wolf asked in a annoyed tone.

In response, the thug leader just pointed with his thumb to his back

"Fuck outta here".

…

…

…

"... Excuse me?" Wolf asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you fucking deaf? I said to bail, pack your stuff and move." the thug leader said, clearly irritated.

"Why?"

"Why? Because I said so. I want to sit with my subordinates in this spot, so get the hell outta here. I won't say it again, dimwit."

"Heh." Wolf snorted, putting his book down and crossing his arms. "What happens if I don't comply?"

"Don't fuck with me, buddy." the thug leader said, pointing his finger at Wolf's face. "I'll give you five seconds to stand up and go, and if you don't, we'll beat you to a pulp." he said, while his thugs cracked their knuckles.

Wolf said nothing. In response, he stood and walked to the side of the table.

"Heh. At least you're not as dumb as I thought." the thug leader said.

But that's all Wolf did. He stood still by the side of the table, with his eyes focused on the thug band. The thug leader looked at him, with a hateful expression.

"What the hell are you still doing here? I gave you the chance to move imbecile, do you want to fucking die?"

But Wolf didn't said a word, he just stood still with a blank expression.

"Oooohh, I see. You think I'm bluffing huh? You think this is a fucking joke huh?" he said, raising his voice. At this point everyone in the Inn was focused on this discussion.

"I had my doubts but now it's clear, you're dumber than an Ape. You won't learn your place unless someone puts you on it." he said, while his thugs prepared to fight.

But Wolf didn't move an inch. The thug leader was already at the edge, grinding his teeth, he was just about to command his thugs to beat him when Wolf finally made a movement.

He tilted his head to his left side and bought his right hand to the side of his waist. His hand was hovering a few inches from his gun holster.

"Heh, if you think reaching for your gun is going to save you, then you're deadly wrong. You're surrounded fool, so I advise you to move away your hand from your revolver before things end up badly."

"Try me." He said, in a deadly and calm tone.

…

"...What did you say?"

"T-r-y-m-e." Wolf slowly repeated.

"Do you have any idea of the situation you're in? You're surrounded fool. There's six of us against you."

"...And?"

"'And'? 'And' you say? I'm starting to think you just want to mess with us, because there's no way someone can be so stupid. So you better drop this act before we wipe the floor with your face."

"I gotta ask…" Wolf calmly said. "Do you have any idea of who you're messing with?"

"I do. With an idiot who doesn't know when to give up."

"Hmmm. Then I'll change the question. Are you fast enough?"

…

"What the hell do you mean?" the thug leader asked, clearly confused.

"Let's just pretend that you and your poor excuse of a gang draw your weapons and rush towards me. Are you guys fast enough to do so and strike me down, before I draw my gun and put a hole in each one of your foreheads?"

In response the gang leader just narrowed his eyes. At this point some people on the Inn had taken cover, afraid of an imminent fight.

"I can see the doubt behind your eyes." Wolf camly stated. "If you want to test it out, then I'll gladly assist. Let's do it like this, y'all can draw your weapons and advance, and I'll only draw and shoot when you start moving. Simple enough right?"

The thug band stood in complete silence.

"You've got to ask yourself one question." Wolf stated. "Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?"

And then there was silence. No one dared to say something, with fear of triggering a war inside the Inn. The place was so quiet that you could hear the mices in the background. The barkeeper stood still, eyeing up both the thug band and Wolf, with his hands down the counter reaching for a shotgun.

The silence stood for a little while. And it was obvious that the tension between the thugs and the Gunslinger was exponentially increasing. But before one of them could make a move, a hand was placed on Wolf's shoulder.

He looked back, only to find one of his companions. She had changed clothes, she was wearing a simple white shirt with blue pants and leather boots. She looked into his eyes and shook her head.

"Let them be." Lea said.

"...Why should I?" Wolf asked, mildly curious about what was she thinking.

"You and them already created a good amount of tension here. The people are scared, you see?" She looked around, and brought her gaze back to him. "This is the only place we found and where we'll stay before we part, so don't go picking up unnecessary fights, because that will only get us kicked." she said in a reasonable tone.

"So, just let them be. They're not worth your time, Wolf…"

Wolf continued to stare at her, before averting his gaze back to the thugs. He sighed, slowly lowering his right hand.

"You're lucky." he said to them. "Normally I wouldn't let some idiots go unharmed, but I'll make this an exception. Don't get used to it." he said, walking away with Lea following close, leaving behind the thugs. Their leader was grinding his teeth, muttering unhearable words.

After leaving the thug band behind, Wolf and Lea walked to another table on the back of the Inn, a few meters from where they were at. There was already someone sitting there waiting for them, he had also changed clothes. Instead of his armored outfit, he was wearing a casual grey shirt, black pants and regular boots. They pulled the chairs and sat down.

"That was something eh Wolf?" Markus said. "We leave for just a bit, and when we come back, you're already threatening to murder some guys hahahaha! Man, you never change!"

"Well, I wouldn't really murder them... at least not here. But whatever, those idiots started it in the first place. If we were anywhere else, I would gladly kick their arses." Wolf replied, crossing his arms.

"I have no doubts about that" Markus replied, snickering

_*cough* *cough*_ Lea tried to catch their attention. "Alright guys. We gotta plan our moves in the next few days. I suppose we'll stay two or three more days in this town." She said, bringing up a scroll and laying it on the table.

"Although… I really would like to know what the hell was that with those guys back there Wolf. Mind explaining?" Lea asked him.

"Well, they're a bunch of losers." He stated.

"Okay… but what happened in the beginning?" She asked.

"I was simply minding my own business, reading my book when these fucktards showed up. They started to talk shit, saying for me to leave the table because they wanted the spot or some nonsense like that. I provoked them and I guess you saw how things went. Bunch of idiots who think they're all tough and shit, I would gladly wreck them." he said, looking over the thug's table. They exchanged glances, and Wolf narrowed his eyes.

"Huh, guess I understand. I really don't go with their faces either, but you gotta keep your cool in check. Like I said, we could've been kicked off the Inn if the discussion progressed any longer." She said.

"Yeah, whatever" He said. Lea just rolled her eyes.

She went back to the scroll on the table, and she was about to open it, when another person approached them. It was the barkeeper.

"Night travelers. So, how do you like the stay so far?"

"Inn's pretty great." Markus said. "We plan to stay here for longer by the way, got some stuff to do."

"That's great! Although I'm here for another thing, to warn you guys actually." He said. Wolf and Lea exchanged glances.

"Just to let you know that we don't tolerate pesky pub fights, this establishment has strict rules against troublemakers, so if you want to fight, bring it someplace else." He said.

"Still, I'm not biased." Wolf raised an eyebrow. "I saw what happened back there, that those guys were the ones who started the whole mess. I'll still talk to them, but I want to warn you, especially you Wolf, to be careful and try not to scare our customers. Keep your cool and everything will be fine. I'm clear?"

"Yes." Lea said.

"Sure thing." Markus agreed.

"Oki-doki." Wolf said.

"Wonderful. Then, I'll return to my shift. If you got any request just call one of the waiters."

"Actually." intervened Markus. "We would like some wine, please."

"Coming right away." replied the barkeeper, placing a hand on his chest and bowing, before going back to the bar.

"*Ahem*, as I said before…" Continued Lea, opening the scroll that was on the table. It was a map of some sorts, with some printings on it. It represented a desert, and it had a big circle on the right side marking what would be a town.

"We're here. We traveled for months from the east to just find this place, so we're definitively in the right path. We'll head North until we find an Oasis, which should not be too far away from here. After that we continue to the northeast, according to some sources we had in this journey, we'll find rupture which extends for a really long distance. We'll follow it, and after that everything is an unknown."

"That sounds pretty vague." Markus commented.

"Well, we're looking for a place that may or may not exist." stated Lea. "It was clear from the beginning of this journey. If the legends are true or not, there is only way to find out."

A waiter came to their table, holding a plate with three wine bottles. He placed them on their table, along with some cups.

"Here it is gentlemans, madam, another one of the Inn's specialities. Please, enjoy." He said, bowing elegantly before leaving.

Our trio opened a bottle and poured the wine for themselves. They were enjoying the drink, a bit far too much.

"I gotta say" started Wolf. "These guys definitely know how to make alcoholic beverages. Earlier I tasted a beer that was also divine."

"I agree a hundred percent." Markus replied, taking another sip of the wine. "This is among the best stuff I've ever tasted for sure."

"It's unique stuff for sure" agreed Lea, delighting with the wine.

"So, what we're going to do now? It's kinda late and I want to rest for a while." Markus noted.

"I'm pretty tired too, so that's a good suggestion." Lea agreed "After we finish all this wine of course."

"Hahaha, for sure! It would be almost a sin to let all of this go to waste." he replied.

"What about you Wolf? Will you stay here with us?" she asked.

"I'm not tired actually, but I won't go to our room either." He said, getting up from his chair. "The sandstorm has ceased, and I kinda want to go for a nightly walk." He said, looking out at a nearby window.

"I see… well then, if you find anything interesting just let us know." she replied, taking another sip of wine.

"Sure thing. See yall later." said Wolf, walking towards the entrance. He exited the Inn, leaving Lea and Markus behind enjoying every drop of wine they could muster.

But little did he know… that some people actually left the Inn a few moments after him.

* * *

**Scene Change: Timestone Town - Timestone's Streets**

It was a clear and starry night. Wolf walked along down the street, where the Inn was located in. A few piles of sand were scattered around the scenario, remnants of the sandstorm that hit the town a few hours earlier. The street lights were flickering, and along the empty cobblestone streets and old looking buildings they created a very melancholic atmosphere.

Wolf continued to wander seemly without destination, looking around the town. He passed through a few houses whose lights were turned on, but the majority of them didn't have a single light source turned on, indicating the people were already sleeping. After some time walking, he reached a small square, with a fountain located in the middle, although the fountain didn't have a single remnant of water in it, with sand covering it instead.

He took a seat in a small bench nearby. Looking around he noticed some cats jumping around the roofs, but other than that the square was pretty much empty. Looking up to the sky, he sighed.

_'How peculiar. We don't see such a beautiful starry sky like this back home.'_ he thought. _'Perks of living far away from a big civilization, I guess…'_

"Hmm, nothing better than going for a walk and enjoying the wonders of nature…" he muttered. "This is a perfect night to relax and sleep among the stars… but it's also perfect…"

Suddenly, his calm and reserved demeanor was replaced with a sadistic expression. A twisted and toothy smile came to his face.

"To murder some idiots!" he said in a louder tone, looking over his shoulder.

And there they stood. Behind him, the gang which he confronted some minutes ago in the Inn. They were all with their weapons draw. Swords, shields, axes and even firearms. Their leader was armed with a Rapier.

"Well, well, well… Would you look at that." Wolf said, slowly rising up from his seat, his sadistic expression didn't leave his face for a single moment. "When I thought you guys couldn't be any more dumb, you have the audacity to come here and face me. Although we aren't at the Inn anymore, so I can do whatever I want with you."

"If you think we would let you go after that fuss back in the Inn, then you're deadly wrong" the leader said, pointing his rapier at Wolf. "We won't let some random nobody act almighty before us, so you better prepare yourself to receive the beating of your life." he said, in a hateful tone.

"Ohohoho! You think so? Shame on you, if you only knew who are you messing with, you would be begging on your fours for your life, but it's too late now…" his toothy smile getting wider as each second passed. "But I'll play along and let you entertain me for a while. You're overflowing with confidence, but I wanna see how long you're going to maintain it in battle." he said, spreading his arms to his side.

"Charge at me, bitch!" he said, without losing his crazy psychopathic expression.

"Make him suffer." ordered the thug leader. In response, a gang member with a sword drawn advanced towards Wolf, his arms still spread to his sides and a toothy smile implanted on his face. Wolf didn't move an inch, and it looked like the thug was about to cut him when the world stopped.

In an impossible feat of speed, Wolf dodged to the left to avoid the sword strike, bringing up his right knee and hitting the thug right in the stomach. The armor that was protecting the thug shattered like paper, and his air was instantly knocked out from him. With another quick movement, Wolf spinned and delivered a kick to the back of his neck, sending the thug to the ground. The force of the impact was so great that the ground sank, leaving multiple crackings that spread out along the square.

"Is that all you got?" asked Wolf, looking over the five remaining thugs.

"What the hell?!" the thug leader panicked. "Kill him!"

A thug fired the pistol he was holding, but Wolf easily dodged all the bullets that were coming towards him. The bullets ran out, and everyone charged at him, with the exception of their leader.

Wolf effortlessly dodged all of the incoming attacks while the thugs tried everything to hit him. One of them tried to deliver a sword slash at point blank range, but Wolf catched the blade with his indicator and middle finger. He broke the sword with a lazy hand movement, and kicked the gang member right in the chest, sending him flying a few yards.

The other three resumed their barrage of attacks, but Wolf either dodged or deflected them with his bare hands. After dodging an incoming axe attack, he somersaulted and kicked a bandit right in the face, knocking him out for good. The other two bandits tried to catch him off guard with an attack behind his back, but he vanished right before they were about to hit him. He appeared right above one of them, grabbing his head and smacking it on the ground. The remaining thug tried to keep up with the fight, but Wolf dodged all of the blows with no effort at all.

"Damn you!" shouted the thug leader. "I'm done with this, prepare to die!" he said, pointing his rapier at Wolf. The rapier started to glow bright orange, when suddenly flames started to dance around it, accumulating at the tip of the rapier, and forming a melon sized flame sphere.

"Incinerate!" the leader shouted, launching the fiercy projectile.

Wolf was still fighting the remaining thug, when he delivered a barrage of quick punches to his torso, and finished the combo with a roundhouse kick to his face, sending him flying with a broken jaw. The thug flew and hit the fountain in the middle of the square.

He noticed something approaching, looking to his side, he saw the flame ball approaching him at considerable speed. But to him, it was another lame demonstration of power.

_'What a fucking joke.'_ he thought, lazily raising his right hand in front of him. The flame projectile kept approaching, and when it looked like it was about to hit him, he deflected it with a backhand slap, sending the projectile roaring up to the sky.

The thug leader's eyes widened, no words could come out of his mouth. Wolf started to slowly approach him while he backed away, but every movement was a great effort for him, considering that his legs were trembling non stop. He turned and tried to run, only to trip in a rock. He was about to stand up when Wolf kicked him on his side, sending him rolling across the ground and instantly ruining his plans to get away.

Still trying to stand, he felt a foot step on his chest. Looking up he saw him, the Gunslinger who effortlessly defeated his whole band of subordinates, without even drawing his gun.

"What's the problem punk? Tired already? Come on, surely you can do better than that, I didn't even warm up!" Wolf said, his sadistic expression reduced to more 'acceptable levels'.

"Damn you…" the thug leader muttered. "You're a fucking monster…"

"Oh really? Well, I guess everyone has their own kind of monster. The difference is, some people know how to control them, while others don't, and I'm pretty good at controlling mine." he replied, with a toothy smile.

"But that doesn't matter, since this is the end of the line…" he said, reaching for one of his revolvers. He drew it with some quick rotatory movements, and pointed it at the thug's face. The barrel of the revolver started to emit little sparks.

"Any last words?" he asked.

"I'll see you in hell." the thug replied, spitting on Wolf.

"Heh, whatever." Wolf replied. But instead of shooting, he kicked the thug again on his side. He kept mercilessly beating him, before finally getting bored and kicking him right in the face, knocking him out for good.

Wolf looked around. His little scuffle did some damage to the scenario. The ground had multiple cracks on it, a wall where he kicked a thug in had collapsed a good portion of it, and the fountain in the middle of the square was completely obliterated.

Shaking his head, he sighed.

"Tsk. Losers." he muttered. He reached for the downed leader's pockets, pulling out a fat coin purse.

"I guess you won't need this anymore." he said to the unconscious bandit, smirking. Standing up, he walked to the other downed bandits and looted them too, before leaving the scene.

* * *

**Scene Change: Timestone Town - Golden Dawn's Inn**

A few people were chatting in the former full and now considerable less crowded saloon. It was almost midnight, and a lot of people had gone home or back to their rooms to rest, preparing for the next day to come.

Among the relatively empty saloon, our duo was chatting in a table close to back area.

"...and that's about it, really. Can't think about many things which had put me on the edge, nowadays we pretty much blast our way through any obstacle." Markus commented.

"Hmmm, true. As for myself, there was a occasion when I almost died facing an Centenary Dragon. Back then I was on one of the crown's hunting squads, and they gave us a mission to kill the Dragon itself. If it wasn't for one of my teammates, I would've been toasted for sure, he saved me right before the flames could reach me." Lea commented.

"I knew you were working for the crown for some time, but you never told me this story."

"Yes, I know. It's just that I try to forget it, bad memories as you can see. Some of my friends actually died to that flying lizard…"

"My condolences, Lea."

"It's alright, it was a while ago anyway. Sometimes it's better to be strong and move on."

"You're right."

"By the way… have you thought about what will you do after we find the Dark Abyss?" Lea asked.

"Dunno… if we manage to pull through this journey, I think I'll settle up."

"Oh… really?"

"Maybe yes, who knows? I really enjoy all of our quests and adventures, and I'll definitely stay for the ones in the future, but someday I just want to settle in, have a family, you know?"

"You've been thinking about this for a while, weren't you? You never talked about this, from what I remember."

"Indeed." Markus chuckled "The adventurer lifestyle suits me so well, but someday we gotta change paths."

"I see…"

And they continued to chat, when the Inn's entrance opened. Wolf stepped inside, with an absolutely bored expression. He looked around and walked to the back area.

"Ah, Wolf has arrived." Markus said, looking over the entrance.

Lea looked over her shoulder. "Indeed. Took him some time, I bet he walked all over the town… wait, is that blood?"

Wolf approached them and took a seat on an empty chair. He sighed.

"You surely took your time Wolf. It's almost midnight, so I bet your little rendezvous was quite successful." Markus said.

"Yeah, it was. I saw some interesting places out there, some monuments… oh, and I also found that library you were talking about, Lea." he said, looking to her. "It's just some blocks down the street."

"That's marvelous! I'll surely visit it tomorrow, thank you Wolf."

"No problem-o."

"Although, if you don't mind me asking…"

"Shoot."

"What's up with all this blood on your clothes?"

Wolf raised an eyebrow, and looked down, inspecting himself. Indeed, there were a few stains of blood on his coat, pants but mostly on his boots.

"Oh, right." he pointed his thumb behind his back. "Remember those idiots who tried to fuck with me awhile ago? They actually followed me when I left. They confronted me on a square and you can guess what happened."

"Really? Well, can't say I feel bad for them, they started the fight in the first place and Karma's a bitch." she said, taking another sip of wine. "Atleast tell me you disposed of their bodies."

"They're still back there unconscious, but I guess it will take a while for them to wake up and recover, I beat them pretty hard after all."

…

"...What?" Lea and Markus asked simultaneously, perplexed.

"What is it?"

"You're saying that you didn't murder them?" Markus asked.

"Nah, I just wrecked them completely."

"Now that's surprising." Lea said. "Normally you just kill every opponent you face."

"Hey, I know I go over the board sometimes but I actually know how to control myself pretty well. What the hell do you take me for? A bloodthirsty psychopath?"

Lea and Markus exchanged glances. They smiled and looked back to the Gunslinger.

"Actually." Lea said. "Your definition isn't fa-"

"Don't answer." Wolf said raising a hand, cutting her.

"Heh, whatever." she said.

"By your enthusiasm I guess they were just a bunch of lame bandits right?" Markus asked.

"Heh, not even that. We fought tougher guys in the past, but these ones were just a bunch of losers, they were more like a bunch of bullies than real bandits. But their leader actually surprised me a little bit, didn't expect him to be a spellcaster."

"Oh? Do tell." Lea asked, interested.

"Yeah, but he was just a lame excuse of an actual caster. All he did was throw a fireball at me, but it was so weak I didn't even feel the heat."

"Heh, I wish I had seen that. He trying to act all mighty, and then shitting his pants, haha!" Lea laughed.

"Yup, it was a huge letdown, they didn't even suit as training dummies. But atleast their leader had a trick on his sleeve. But nothing compared to the likes of you Lea, of course."

"Oh, really?" she asked him.

"Yeah. There's a difference in power between you and him, and he doesn't even reach your feet. It's like comparing a kitty to a lion. He was just an amateur, and you are the best spellcaster I've ever seen. Pretty sure if you casted a simple fireball you would've incinerated all of them… along with a good portion of the square."

"Ah, thanks. It's always nice receiving compliments from you. Although I still think I'm more powerful." she smugly smiled.

"Well, I'm up in our duels, aren't I?" Wolf asked, smiling and crossing his arms.

"Yeah, but you have only a few more victories…" She looked to the side and pouted. "How about we spar before we continue our journey?"

"I'm up, it would be nice having an actual good fight. These losers fucking ruined my mood."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'll sleep now. It's late and I want to be fresh for tomorrow." Markus said, standing up.

"I'm also tired." Lea said, standing up and stretching. "Although I doubt if we'll be 'fresh' for tomorrow, considering the amount of wine we drank. Hungover is a bitch."

"Goddammit."

"You guys can go, I'll stay awake for a little while. Gotta clean my clothes and maybe take a few drinks."

"Sure thing. Goodnight Wolf." Markus said, walking up the stairs.

"Goodnight Wolf. And be prepared to get your arse kicked tomorrow." Lea said, winking.

"Hah! Sure. Sweet dreams, Lea." he smiled, before she disappeared on the top of the stairs.

* * *

After a while, Wolf was on the bar drinking another bottle of beer. He had just come out off the bathroom, with his clothes cleaned and fresh. Eventually he walked out to the backyard of the Inn, where some boxes were stocked. There was a tree in the middle of area, and he could see the vast desert which extended for far beyond the eye could see.

He approached the tree and layed down below it. With his legs crossed a hand behind his head, he stared up to the beautiful starry sky.

_'Another day passed, and we're even closer. I can't help but feel excited, this has the potential to be the biggest challenged we ever faced so far. I wonder what we'll find… but whatever, I'll think about it tomorrow.'_ he thought, and closed his eyes, listening to the wind howling and the calm atmosphere.

Took him some time, but eventually he was fast asleep. But by doing it so, he didn't notice the round shaped green portal that appeared beneath him, swallowing him completely.


End file.
